North Korean defector charged with spying

An official in Seoul's city government tasked with helping North Korean defectors settle in the South has been arrested and charged with spying for the autocratic regime.

By Julian Ryall, Tokyo

10:44AM GMT 21 Jan 2013

South Korea's National Intelligence Service confirmed on Sunday that the 33-year-old official – himself a defector from the North – had been taken into custody, although it has declined to identify the man by name.

Security officials acted after concluding that the man had handed a complete list of defectors living in Seoul to the North Korean government, according tot he Dong-A Ilbo newspaper.

The information also included the defectors' new addresses in the South Korean capital, details of their work and other information.

The data could potentially threaten the safety of the defectors, South Korean officials said, and has raised questions about oversight of the government's handling of defectors.

According to South Korean intelligence officials, the man had been one of North Korea's social elite before he defected alone in 2004 by crossing the border into China and making his way to Seoul.

Trained as a surgeon in North Korea, he studied Chinese and business at a university after arriving in Seoul and initially found employment working for a trading company thanks to his fluency in Chinese and English.

He joined the Seoul city government in June 2011 in a two-year contract, the newspaper reported, and was in charge of collating information and providing assistance to more than 10,000 North Koreans who have fled their homeland.

The official's duties included meeting with families on a weekly basis, providing advice and counselling by phone and collecting details on the defectors' lives in the South.

Security officials were reportedly alerted to the man's activities after it was learned that he was travelling to China frequently and may also have crossed the border back into North Korea.

Authorities are now examining whether the man applied for the position with the Seoul government with the aim of obtaining information for the North Korean government.

The man's family are still apparently in North Korea and it is also possible that they were being used as hostages to make him comply with Pyongyang's demands for information on defectors.